Page 40 of Prince with a Chance of Darkness

Her laughter was infectious. I joined in but stopped the second internal warning bells started going off, letting me know something supernatural was happening in the area. Something not good. I focused on the mouth of the cave, trying to get a sense of what that something might be.

My sister touched my arm. “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” I said, concentrating more, trying to sort through the inner alarm bells to figure out what tripped them. “Do you hear anything weird?”

Willa was quiet a second. “I hear the waterfall and something scurrying over the floor in here. Do not tell me what it is. I don’t want to know.”

“Nothing else?” I questioned, unable to shake the feeling something was wrong. Something that needed my attention.

“Nothing,” said Willa. “Want to tell me what vibe you’re getting?”

Try as I might, I couldn’t pinpoint what was tripping my slayer alarms, but the compulsion to leave the cave and head back to campus was strong. “I have a really strong urge to get back to campus.”

“Is this a slayer thing?” Willa questioned. “I don’t hear anything amiss and I’m not sensing anything.”

The feeling intensified to the point it was impossible to ignore.

“Go,” Willa said with a nod of her head.

“No. I need to help you get chained first.” I couldn’t just leave her. She needed me to help chain her for the night.

“Go. I’ll handle it. I’ll secure myself as much as I can. You go check on things, and I’ll be here when you get back.” Willa wasted no time, rushing to the chains that were hooked to the wall. She pulled off her shirt and then her shoes and pants. When she was done, she was in her bra and panties. She noddedat one of the manacles. “Hurry up. Shackle me so you don’t worry about me.”

I didn’t love the idea of leaving her like this, but my slayer instincts were screaming at me. I ran to her and grabbed the chains. I secured her wrists. My alarm bells began going off so forcefully that it was almost painful. “Willa, something is happening out there.”

“Go!”

“I’m not done securing you,” I said fast.

“Go! I’m fine.”

I ran for the mouth of the cave, pausing momentarily to look back at her. “You sure you’re okay here?”

“I am. Don’t get dead,” she said. It was something we’d been saying to each other since Romania.

“Ditto.”

Chapter Thirteen

Vlad

Vlad strolledleisurely down the sidewalk through the quad area of Grimm Cove College. The Weird Sisters were close by his side. Teya had her arm looped through Vlad’s as she alternated between skipping and walking. She was currently singing a song about turning coeds into human juice boxes. The melody was beautiful, even if the lyrics were twisted. It summed her up perfectly.

Katarina was to his left, always mindful of her surroundings. Radmila was bringing up the rear, sizing up males as they walked by. She was no doubt trying to decide which she wanted for dinner. Knowing her, she’d pick more than one.

Vlad adjusted the lapels of his dark gray, late-Victorian era frock coat. The coat matched his trousers. The high-collared light gray shirt he wore was perfectly pressed. He knew the outfit was a bit much, but he had plans to attend a costume party on campus as he had every year for the past four years. Each time he wore an outfit from his past, something authentic. They workedperfectly and fit him like a glove since they had been tailor-made for him.

“Killer costume!” shouted a young male walking with a group of students. He was dressed as a scarecrow, and the woman next to him was in a blue and white checked dress. She had braids on each side of her head. There was another male student in what Vlad could only guess was supposed to be a lion costume. When he realized what they were all dressed as he grinned and tipped his top hat at them.

“See ya at the party!” shouted the scarecrow, glancing over his shoulder at Vlad as he continued walking. “Save some beer and babes for us.”

The girl at the scarecrow’s side elbowed him.

He rubbed the spot. “Ouch. You have a bony elbow.”

“Andyouthink with what’s in your pants,” she shot back.

The lion laughed. “She’s not wrong, Van Helsing.”

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